Book Review: Blood Lines (DI Kim Stone Book 5) , by Angela Marsons

Publisher:  Bookouture

Publication date: 3rd November 2016 (Version – Kindle)

Don’t you just love it when a book is completely flawless? The ones that tick ALL the boxes for an incredible read are a rare find, but Blood Lines should strut to the front of the stage and take a well-deserved bow.

DI Kim Stone is one of my absolute favourite characters in ANY genre. The trials in her own background determines how she responds to individuals is rated on the varying degrees on her personal ‘don’t muck me about Stoneometer’: the vulnerable ones have her full and immediate attention, her close knit team know how she works especially when they’re testing the little patience she possesses, and throw in the odd psychopath now and then and it’s a challenge she will rise to.

Stone’s frosty attitude is a stark contrast of how she fights the corner of the victims in the cases she works. In this case, two unrelated victims from entirely different backgrounds are discovered with a single fatal stab wound and, as ever, she is determined to get justice for them – thank heavens for Bryant, her trusty side-kick, who has ample diplomacy for the both of them when dealing with the general public and oddly uncooperative family members!

During the investigation Bryant senses a shift for the worse in the DI’s usual testy mood and realises something is amiss, but as his boss rarely lets her guard down its difficult to determine the reason why. But, we know that Dr Alexandra Thorne is attempting to wheedle her way back into the detective’s life via ways she know will breech the DI’s tough exterior and cause her to lose control – inviting someone with the merciless supremacy of Alex Thorne into the driving seat of your life is not something you would want given her track record, believe me!

After her first appearance in Evil Games Thorne was SO wickedly sinister it was difficult to believe the author, Angela Marsons, could achieve that level of awesome villainy again. Well, she ruddy well has and Blood Lines is equal if not better than book two of the series (that is hard to live up to as I rated it a 6/5!).

There’s something about Alex Thorne as Kim Stone’s adversary that you just can’t top. Let’s face it, she may be safely behind bars but that doesn’t mean to say that everyone else stop looking over their shoulder! Her puppet mastery skills have an incredibly looong reach. The events she orchestrates are taken to a whole new level of devious manipulation and vengefulness, and she will stop at nothing until she antagonises ‘Kimmy’, her irritating pet name for the DI, just enough to provoke  the reaction she desires.

There are many, many, many other character’s traits I love too, like Barney the dog (yes, a dog), Keats the pathologist, and Stacey’s broad Black Country accent. Not to mention the absence of Stone’s culinary skills and her minimalistic, solitary lifestyle – I think we can safely assume that she won’t appear on Come Dine with Me any time soon!

Take it from someone who very rarely continues to read a series when I say this collection is tremendous. It’s a series that never fails to deliver just the right amount of compassion, credibility, action, wit and suspense. This is crime fiction at its finest.

Rating:  5/5

(Source: My own purchased copy.)

My reviews for the series so far:

Book 1:  Silent Scream

Book 2:  Evil Games

Book 3:  Lost Girls

Book 4:  Play Dead

(Courtesy of Amazon UK)

A victim killed with a single, precise stab to the heart appears at first glance to be a robbery gone wrong. A caring, upstanding social worker lost to a senseless act of violence. But for Detective Kim Stone, something doesn’t add up.

When a local drug addict is found murdered with an identical wound, Kim knows instinctively that she is dealing with the same killer. But with nothing to link the two victims except the cold, calculated nature of their death, this could be her most difficult case yet.

Desperate to catch the twisted individual, Kim’s focus on the case is threatened when she receives a chilling letter from Dr Alex Thorne, the sociopath who Kim put behind bars. And this time, Alex is determined to hit where it hurts most, bringing Kim face-to-face with the woman responsible for the death of Kim’s little brother – her own mother.

As the body count increases, Kim and her team unravel a web of dark secrets, bringing them closer to the killer. But one of their own could be in mortal danger. Only this time, Kim might not be strong enough to save them…

A totally gripping thriller that will have you hooked from the very first page to the final, dramatic twist.

BUY THE BOOK

(Courtesy of Amazon UK – Author photograph courtesy of Publisher)

Angela Marsons is the author of Amazon #1 Bestseller SILENT SCREAM.

She lives in the Black Country with her partner, their bouncy Labrador and a swearing parrot.

She first discovered her love of writing at Junior School when actual lessons came second to watching other people and quietly making up her own stories about them. Her report card invariably read “Angela would do well if she minded her own business as well as she minds other people’s”.

After years of writing relationship based stories (My Name Is and The Middle Child) Angela turned to Crime, fictionally speaking of course, and developed a character that refused to go away.

The second, third and fourth books in the Kim Stone series, EVIL GAMES, LOST GIRLS and PLAY DEAD are also now available.

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OTHER BOOKS IN THE DI KIM STONE SERIES

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